Seychelles Invites China to Set Up Anti-Piracy Base

The Seychelles invited Beijing to set up a military base on the archipelago to beef up the fight against piracy there, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam said.

The declaration came Dec. 2 as Gen. Liang Guanglie is making the first-ever visit by a Chinese defense minister to the Indian Ocean island state.

« We have invited the Chinese government to set up a military presence on Mahe to fight the pirate attacks that the Seychelles face on a regular basis, » Adam said.

« For the time being China is studying this possibility because she has economic interests in the region and Beijing is also involved in the fight against piracy, » he explained.

Liang, who arrived in Victoria on Dec. 1 with a 40-strongdelegation, had been invited in October by Seychelles President James Michel, when he was on a visit to China.

« Together, we need to increase our surveillance capacity in the Indian Ocean … as Seychelles has a strategic position between Asia and Africa, » Michel said in statement, adding that China had given its army two light aircraft.

The two countries signed a military cooperation agreement in 2004 that has enabled some 50 Seychelles soldiers to be trained in China. They renewed their agreement Dec. 2, with China to provide further training and equipment.

If the Chinese military base goes ahead, « it won’t be the first foreign military presence here because the Americans already have a small drone base here that they use in the fight against piracy, » Adam said.

After warships started deploying in the Gulf of Aden in 2008 to thwart attacks on vessels, Somali pirates enlarged their field of operations into the Indian Ocean, including towards the Seychelles.

With 115 islands scattered over an area of 540,000 square miles, a population of 85,000 and an army of just 500, the archipelago has been asking for foreign assistance.

Liang flew in from the Ugandan capital Kampala, where, according to Ugandan government sources, he promised $2.3 million in military aid, including support to troops in the African Union force in Somalia.

The Seychelles president also welcomed « Russian support in the fight against piracy » after he met Dec. 2 with Sergey Kryukov, Russia’s top foreign ministry official for Africa.

Piracy has flourished off war-torn Somalia, outwitting international efforts – including constant patrols by warships and tough sentencing of the pirates they capture.